City Wall

Get a Glimpse of Nanjing’s Mighty Fortifications

The City Wall of Nanjing was designed by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, to consolidate his sovereignty and repel invaders. Nanjing’s City Wall is famous for its solid construction, and is considered by many to be the most significant ancient city in China. The total area enclosed was more than 3.5 acres (15,168 square meters), 21 miles (33676 meters) around, 40 feet (12 meters) in height, and 25 feet (7.62 meters) deep. Built with large bricks combined with other high quality materials, the ancient City Wall of Nanjing is quite an impressive sight, which still stands after weathering years of rain and storms over the past 600 years.

The Nanjing City Wall houses more than 2,000 blockhouse, 13,616 crenels, 200 hidden houses, and 13 city gates. Among the gates enclosing the city, which are Zhonghua Gate in the south, Yijiang Gate in the northwest, Xuanwu Gate in the northeast and Zhongshan Gate in the east are all well-preserved. Three barbicans were connected by four arched gates, each of which was equipped with a Qianjinzha which could be opened up and down. A pair of wooden doors is also built beside it.

China Gate is located in the north shore of the Qinhuai River, which was formerly called Jubao Gate during the Ming dynasty and served as the northern gate of Nanjing. It was renamed China Gate in 1931. Inside the China Gate lies Zhenhuai Bridge; outside, Changgan Bridge. On both sides of the bulwarks stands two 37-foot (11.5 meters) wide and 280-foot (86.1 meter) long packways. The grand packways is mainly served as express ways of transporting supplies during wartime.

The constructing of the City Wall in Nanjing takes advantage of its sounding natural terrain, with Zhongshan Scenic Area in east, Stone Mountain in west, the Qinhuai River in south and Xuanwu Lake in north, Lying on the riverbank and nestled aside mountain, the City Wall appears quite overwhelming and impressive.